Update 10.83.00 has been released to our servers.  If your 3rd quarter DPP fees are paid ( posted ), it will automatically download to your system.  If not, once they are posted it will be pushed to you.

We recently expanded the ability to have an auto numbering system for electronic checks, and that was expanded and fine tuned in this release.  In addition, we sometimes get inquiries about report speeds.  In many cases we find that we can tune the system to work better considering the large amount of data.  In other cases, we include utilities to clear out old, unused, data.  One example is the payroll labor times file.  Often people have over 20 years of data that is never used, but slows the filtering process.  Now under Payroll, Tools, the last menu item allows you to clear the old data to a reasonable amount.  When prompted, enter a date from perhaps 3 years back, and the system will quickly cleanout all the old, unused, data, speeding up the report.

Very Important Backup Information

Do you know how your ASW data is backed up ?  Auto Shop Writer has a built in utility in the auto updater that makes a backup file every night of all the data files we use.  Each day is saved in a different file.  This allows us to retrieve data if you have problems, and because of our architecture, you will likely have very little re-entry, if any, should a file be damaged.

Normally, the files are saved in the \ASW10\autobkup folder on the server.  You can go in there and delete old copies, retaining about 5 to 10 of the most recent.  If you wish to put this on an external drive instead, in ASW under Tools, you can also select the Backup Drive and enter a path to another drive, and the files will be placed there instead.  We do recommend this.

Recently people have had a need to restore from backups because their computers died, or they were victims of a ransomware attack, or they had a virus.  In a few cases we found that there were no external copies of backups.  This led to a significant loss of data ( history ).  In other cases, someone had setup a cloud backup, but the account expired, and thus there were no backups. 

We always encourage you to have your IT ( hardware ) people touch base with us about a backup plan for your business.  You work too hard tracking this data to lose it.  They can call or email anytime, and we’ll explain what we do, and how they can best support that.

We did, however, decide to add one more emergency level of protection.  Starting with the third quarter of 2018, we have enabled the ability of your system to upload the evening’s backup archive to our cloud server.  THIS IS VOLUNTARY …. USE IT IF YOU WANT.  There is no cost to do this for DPP subscribers.

Here is how to setup the new service on your computer.  A new copy of MLS10aus.exe will be automatically downloaded to your \ASW10s\MLS folder on your server.  Follow these steps:

1. In the lower right corner of Windows, find the MLS10aus icon ( island in sunset ).  Right click on it and close it.
2. From the \ASW10s\MLS folder, copy and paste the MLS10aus.exe file to the root ASW10s folder.
3. In ASW, go to Tools and the Backup Drive option.  Leave the existing values, but when it asks if you wish to backup to the Cloud, select Yes and then Yes when asked if you want to save the values.
4. On the server, restart MLS10aus ( reboot the server, or if you have an AutoBackup or MLS10aus icon on the desktop, click on it, or in Windows Explorer, go the ASW10s folder and click on the MLS10aus.exe.

If you do this, and then can’t access a backup, give us a call and we can download the copy from our server to your computer.  Soon, we will provide an update that allows you to retrieve it with a single menu selection …

Please … take backups seriously.  It’s your data, and we don’t want you to lose it.

The 10.82.12 update contains numerous additions and refinements requested by our clients.  They will be apparent as you use the system and improve the natural flow of your work.  These include modifications to reports, clearer prompts, additional automatic procedures, and some clarity in presented data.  Although we did fix some errors in information shown, in no case was the actual data incorrect.

CRITICAL NOTICE:  This update will NOT create any problems with your workstations connecting.  If you should get an error that says you cannot connect to the Advantage Server, please read the previous bulletin.  That error is caused by updates Microsoft made to Windows 10 networking in their major 1803 spring update.  The details, and solution, are in the previous bulletin.

Sometimes people contact us about errors because they think ASW updated and created them.  If ASW has an error, we will identify the problem, fix it, and have a solution out within a few hours.  The vast majority of the time, we are finding the problems are the result of Windows updates.  These are not limited to ASW.  Right now millions of computers worldwide are dealing with problems from the 1803 updates, and it’s effect on a wide variety of software programs and especially networked servers from some of the largest companies in the world.  We will do our best to find the source of the problems and keep you posted in our bulletins if it might cause you problems.

If you experience any problems with ASW 10.82.12 please email us immediately.  We will check it out, call you if needed, and give you a written response as quickly as possible.  If you do not get at least a confirmation to your email within 2 hours, then we simply didn’t receive it.  If your system is setup for email, then under help you can select Email Tech Support and fill in the information.  If not, send an email to Support@MasterLinkSoftware.com and do expect a personal ( not automated ) response.